Who trusts: the origins of social trust in seven societies.
Open accessAbstract
This article identifies six main theories of the determinants of social trust, and tests them against survey data from seven societies, 1999-2001. Three of the six theories of trust fare rather poorly and three do better. First and foremost, social trust tends to be high among citizens who believe that there are few severe social conflicts and where the sense of public safety is high. Second, informal social networks are associated with trust. And third, those who are successful in life trust more, or are more inclined by their personal experience to do so. Individual theories seem to work best in societies with higher levels of trust, and societal ones in societies with lower levels of trust. This may have something to do with the fact that our two low trust societies, Hungary and Slovenia, happen to have experienced revolutionary change in the very recent past, so that societal events have overwhelmed individual circumstances.
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Social support and trust in people and institutions influence one's sense of control and perceived ability to solve a problem.
“Social support and trust in people and institutions represent a significant social resource that influences one’s sense of control and an individual’s perceived ability to solve a problem (Beck et al., 1985; Delhey and Newton, 2003; Torche and Valenzuela, 2011).”
From Intolerance of Uncertainty and Tendency to Worry as Mediators Between Trust in Institutions and Social Support and Fear of Coronavirus and Consequences of the Pandemic (2021) · cites this paper as Delhey and Newton, 2003
Cites
Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology
Portes, A. (1998) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.1 · Cited by 12,037 · see citing works
Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan
Yamagishi, T., & Yamagishi, M. (1994) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/bf02249397 · Cited by 2,392 · see citing works
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All for All: Equality, Corruption, and Social Trust
Rothstein, B., & Uslaner, E. M. (2005) · World Politics · doi:10.1353/wp.2006.0022 · Cited by 1,529 · see citing works
Predicting Cross-National Levels of Social Trust: Global Pattern or Nordic Exceptionalism?
Delhey, J., & Newton, K. (2005) · European Sociological Review · doi:10.1093/esr/jci022 · Cited by 1,267 · see citing works
Self-citationHow General Is Trust in “Most People”? Solving the Radius of Trust Problem
Delhey, J., Newton, K., & Welzel, C. (2011) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122411420817 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
Self-citationA comprehensive view of trust in education: Conclusions from a systematic literature review
Niedlich, S., Kallfaß, A., Pohle, S., & Bormann, I. (2021) · Review of Education · doi:10.1002/rev3.3239 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Fahmi, M., Panjaitan, N. A., Habibie, I., Siregar, A. Y. M., Amarullah, G., Rahma, & Sunjaya, D. K. (2019) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7657-5 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Gvozden, T. V., Baucal, A., Krstic, K., & Filipović, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.737188 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Delhey, J., & Newton, K.
- Affiliations
- WZB Berlin Social Science Center (DE)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- ORCID
- Delhey, Jan
- Venue
- European Societies
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2003-01-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 93-137
- ISSN
- 1461-6696 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8307
- OpenAlex
- W1971076012
- Cited by
- 628
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 50.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Societies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Social Policy and Reform Studies
- Keywords
- social trust, determinants of trust, social conflict, public safety, informal social networks, life success, post-communist transition, Hungary, Slovenia, cross-national comparison
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